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Looking for Almonds, Sesame, ...
Submitted by fyl on Wed, 2012/04/18 - 08:50.
While I know almonds, sesame and other interesting crops are grown here, I never see them for sale locally. Flax is generally easy to find and sometimes chia but what about the others?
I would like to find good sources for these products -- direct from the producers if possible. For example, I would happily purchase a sack (100 lbs?) of almonds. My guess is that these products are produced primarily for export and that is why we don't see them.
I would also be interested in connections to any berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, ...) that are produced here.
Nut lady/Spice Lady
There are 2 Places in Mercado mayoreo where I buy sesame, nuts, spices etc.. The spice lady sells spices and some seeds for baking in Bulk. When you enter the gate at Mayoreo she is in the second street to the right next to the bulk bag guy.
The Nut lady is all the way to the end, go left past the big Cola guy and she has jars of Nuts... it's before you get to where they start selling fruits and veggies
El Sauce - Sesame
There is a sesame-producing coop outside El Sauce, Nicaragua. I believe they now have more than a dozen sesame farms, most of which put in place in the last 2 years. They might also be a good source for you in general in that they are supported (or were created by?) the U.S. organic outfit, "Once Again". They make many products but are better known for "butters" - peanut, almond, cashew, sunflower seed, tahini, etc. A few years back the El Sauce town Council, or maybe just the Alcalde?, visited the factory in the U.S. I remember seeing a news blurb on this trip. I doubt the finished products are sold in Nicaragua and there might be relatively few in-country buyers for their crops - so buying even in small bulk might not be that complicated.
El Sauce CoOp
For specifics, see Nicaragua Sesame Co-Ops & the Once Again – Supporting Co-Ops in Nicaragua (47-point PowerPoint)
Great pointer
Now let's see if it pans out locally. The web site is about a 501c3 US company and how you can buy from them. I have sent them a message asking if buying direct is possible and, of so, how. I am very close to El Sauce so let's hope it all works out.
Oh well
This, of course, does not mean there is nothing available directly but it clearly means nothing without at least a trip to El Sauce.
This isn't my first encounter with "not here" issues. I have been trying to buy quinoa. After deciding it wasn't available locally I started looking for producers in Bolivia. The closest I got to a source was a company that said "We sell all our organic quinoa to the US. You should try shopping there."
The reason I see this as more of a problem than just "Phil wants some" is that good things which could be relatively inexpensive locally become someone one needs to import. I don't think everyone in Nicaragua is going to eat almond butter and quinoa but making it available would help Nicaragua gain some good food destination points.
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I personally know and have met many people who work for Once Again Nut Butter. They are excellent folks. They work very closely with JHC-CDCA in developing organic sesame farms here in Nicaragua. They buy directly from the farmers, thus cutting out the middle man, and come down several times a year to check on production and negotiate prices directly with the farmers. I do not know if there is any left available here. You can call the JHC office and ask to speak to Mike 22698001 he knows everything there is about organic sesame, cotton, and coffee.
Why not get in touch with the people who make the oil?
They're local and may know what they do with the sesame that's left over after the oil is pressed out (bet it goes to animal feed, but it could be made into halvah).
Apricots and almonds apparently need some chilling to be productive, not as much as the common apple varieties, but more than Nicaragua gets. http://www.waterfordnut.com/grow.html has details. Pistachios also seem to need some chilling and a low humidity climate.
On miso, someone has to have the starter (Book of Miso is one place to look for the how-to; http://www.soya.be/make-miso.php has the essentials). I suspect a lot of the commercial stuff isn't living.
Try one of the 60 breeds of corn and 60 breeds of beans that grown in the Departmento de Jinotega and which various Nicaraguans concerned with the ecology and environment of Nicaragua are trying to preserve. Probably similar things are available in the Segovias and Departmento de Matagalpa.
What I've found locally has been wheat, barley, corn, and sorghum, and enough oatflakes to suggest that oats are probably grown here, too. Probably more varieties of millet could be grown than are grown now as millet is a very common food staple in Africa and Asia. Buckwheat's another northern crop, but millet is rarely anyone's idea of a gourmet food. Sorghum seems to be popped like popcorn and turned into a sweet, but you can mill it or make porridge out of it. What's grown here is milo/milon.
I don't know if Nicaragua is too far north for Brazil nuts, but it's obviously not too far north for cashews.
The Italian fusion restaurant seems to be doing quite well here with both locals and visitors, and didn't poison me with their shrimp (though I'm pretty sure it was frozen). Nicaragua can grow tomatoes, wheat, rice, beef, lamb, goat, pork, and chicken, chile peppers, and probably at least some of the spices that go into curries. The JinoCuba restaurant does well with lamb when they have it. I've been getting fresh broccoli from one of the street vendors since maybe September.
Anthony Bourdain did a segment of his world culinary show in Nicaragua and loved the roasted lamb that some family near Esteli served him, really enjoyed nacatamales apparently, and rundown stew. Good cooking doesn't require imported ingredients; fresh and well prepared are what's vital.
A really good grass-fed steak is now highly desirable in the US, just requires some serious planning and moving the herd to grow well.
Nicaragua also has some unique river shrimps -- though getting those requires either special local knowledge on the Pacific side (someone has found them in a Pacific river) or being on the Rio San Juan. Also, freshwater crabs.
Rebecca Brown
Misunderstood?
The Once Again people might have misunderstood what you said/wanted; they seem to be answering the question of whether or not the finished product is sold in Nicaragua, as opposed to whether or not the raw material from there could be bought there by another party - if that is what you asked him. I suspect you are right: you need to go there or locate an email or phone for someone managing some aspect of the farm(s). Might take some navigating and Q&A but dealing with a coop person direct seems like the way to go.
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Please keep us posted about the El Sauce products.
"strawberries, blueberries, blackberries"
I know strawberries are grown around Jinotega but don't know where. If you are looking for strawberry plants and can't find them up north, I know a place in Jinotepe that sells healthy one.
Can you please tell me where
Can you please tell me where in Jinotepe I can buy strawberry plants?
Thanks mjt!
Thanks mjt!
How Involved Is
getting the agricultural permit to import plant species?
Has anyone actually done it? I would like to experiment with some nut and fruit trees too. Macadamia nuts are grown in Hawaii and San Diego; almonds extensively in the San Joaquin valley.
I suspect that any number of items could be grown successfully in Nicaragua. Perhaps not competitively with a grower with an optimal climate or soil, but well enough for personal use.
This chilling business is a bit misleading. Some apple varieties are grown successfully in hot climates, Africa, Israel, southern California, and yes, Nicaragua (although I can't tell you where precisely).
These crops may never be suitable for Nicaraguan subsistence farmers (who couldn't take the financial risk of not enjoying a consistent crop every year). Beans, corn, and tomatoes are pretty reliable.
I fantasize about Raspberries...
As part of a boutique "Pick Ya' Own" farm.
If not, a line of mango, papaya and pitahaya ice cream/pancake syrups...
Sort of a "Canadian maple syrup guy gone Nica"